Although anesthesia and surgery today are very safe, some risks still exist. By performing a physical examination and conduction some simple tests before putting your pet under anesthesia, we can minimize those risks even further. Our pets can’t talk to us and tell us when they are not feeling well. Often, the only way we can find out something is wrong is through diagnostic testing. Then, steps can be taken to reduce potential complications. The anesthetic protocol can be adjusted, or treatment for the medical condition can be started before surgery to ensure that your pet is healthy enough for anesthesia.
Testing can identify many pre-existing conditions that may pose a significant health risk to your pet. These conditions include heart, liver, and kidney problems or systematic diseases such as diabetes or cancer. Although procedures such as neuters, spays, and dental cleanings are often considered “routine” they are anesthetic procedures. Where surgery is concerned, preanesthetic testing can help ensure the best outcome for your pet. Preanesthetic testing gives our veterinary team the knowledge to keep your pet safe during the surgical procedure.
We will take a small amount of blood from your pet and run the bloodwork prior to the procedure. We will have the results generally within 20 minutes.
We run a complete blood count (CBC) and either six or twelve blood chemistry parameters with electrolyte levels to give us a better look into whether or not a pet under-going anesthesia could be suffering from anemia, dehydration, infection, parasitism, bone marrow dysfunction, liver disease, kidney disease, etc.
